The Way Home: ‘Defend the Guard’ Strategy Can End Unconstitutional Wars

Gone are the days of the anti-war protest movement, and good riddance. Now there’s real promise of bringing home the troops thanks to the “Defend the Guard” effort, which stands to roll back the empire by reminding America it’s a republic first.

The website bringourtroopshome.us tracks the latest news of what’s probably the most important and patriotic national cause in America today.

Dan McKnight, founder of Idahoans to Bring Our Troops Home, created the site after serving in the Marine Corps Reserve, completing three years active duty in the Army, and 10 years in the Idaho National Guard, of which he spent one year deployed to Afghanistan.

McKnight’s messaging is effective, but it’s the methodology that packs the most punch. Without relenting on pressuring Congress, McKnight’s efforts focus on state-level action.

In nine states, “Defend the Guard” legislation has been introduced. The bills would require the state and its governor to withhold National Guard support to unconstitutional, undeclared wars.

Those states are Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming. In 20 other states, there are ongoing efforts to find sponsorship.

Foreign policy is made in D.C., but if just a few Americans exercise their powers under the Tenth Amendment of the Bill of Rights, they will no longer be treated as passive participants in endless warmaking.

And this strategy can actually end wars.

Most of the U.S. troops in Syria, for instance, are South Carolina National Guard.

That’s not the purpose of the National Guard. It was established to repel invasions, quell insurrections, enforce domestic law, and help out during a national emergency.

Like so many other institutions nowadays, the National Guard is a hollowed out version of itself. It’s a sign that Americans are losing their country and the civic fabric that holds it together.

The same can be said about the federalist system of government as a whole. The states are supposed to be a constitutional check on the federal government, as outlined in the Tenth Amendment.

The beauty of this Defend the Guard movement is that it not only aims to halt runaway American foreign adventurism, but along the way it strengthens Americans’ hold on their own state and local representatives.

2 thoughts on “The Way Home: ‘Defend the Guard’ Strategy Can End Unconstitutional Wars”

Minnesota Governor Perpich tried exactly that back in the ’80s. The Supreme Court ruled in Perpich v. DOD (1990) that he couldn’t withhold support, on US constitutional grounds. No amount of state legislation is going to change this precedent. Why are these people trying a tactic that is already doomed to failure?